While there are many foods that are thought to boost or reduce fertility, there is also a specific diet for fertility as outlined in The Fertility Diet, a book by McGraw-Hill, which speaks of groundbreaking research that reveals natural ways to boost ovulation and improve your chances of getting pregnant.
Benefits of the fertility diet
It isn’t the so called aphrodisiac foods such as oysters, and yams, and bananas and saffron and chocolate that we speak of here, but a healthy diet that is high in natural produce and low in processed items. So the diet doesn’t involve purchase of any specific foods or products.
The diet for fertility is based on over 8 years of study of over eighteen thousand women. Though the diet doesn’t guarantee a pregnancy (but then neither does IVF), it is free, easy to follow and generally good for health as well.
So even if it doesn’t necessarily make you pregnant, it will make you healthier which can only be good for your pregnancy prospects.
Guidelines of the fertility diet
1. Try to get your protein from vegetables rather than meat. Vegetarian foods that are rich in protein include soybeans, beans, tofu, nuts and peas as well as some whole grains.
2. Be careful about where you get your fats from. Transfats are an absolute no-no, not only because they clog arteries but also because they cause the kind of inflammation that hinders fertility.
Instead have unsaturated fats, including polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats. Cut out animal fats and increase vegetable fats proportionately. Olives, nuts, seeds, fish are all sources of good quality fats and form a part of the fertility diet.
3. Carbs are necessary for the body but remember to pick slow carbohydrates that offer sustained release of energy rather than energy spikes followed by sharp drops in energy.
Fruit (rather than juiced fruit), vegetables, whole grains and beans are better than other sources of carbs such as sugars etc.
4. Dairy is an important part of the fertility diet and it is whole milk that is thought to be particularly good for boosting fertility.
So the diet recommends whole milk rather than skim milk and full fat yoghurt and even a small serving of ice-cream.
5. Whole grains form an important part of any balanced and healthy diet and they also seem to promote fertility. Whole grains as well as beans, spinach beets, tomatoes and pumpkin are good sources of iron.
6. Appropriate supplements should be part of the diet: a folic acid supplement is recommended to be started as soon as you decide to get pregnant, regardless of whether you are on a specific diet for fertility or not. In addition, appropriate multivitamins will ensure that there are no nutritional deficiencies that prevent a pregnancy.
7. The beverage that is most recommended as part of the fertility diet is water. Reduce caffeine from coffee and tea as well as alcohol. What is a complete no-no are sodas because these are known to actually hinder ovulation and reduce fertility.
